A pattern emerges

Researchers detected the signal every 16.35 days. Over four days, there would be a burst every two hours, and then it would go silent for 12 days.

The signal is a known fast radio burst labeled FRB 180916.J0158+65. Scientists behind the research hope the discovery of its 16-day pattern will help reveal more about the cause of the bursts.

An early theory from another set of researchers working off their findings posits that the signal comes from the orbital motion of a companion star or object. Either way, it's probably not aliens.

"I’m not reaching out to E.T. at this point in time," says Paul Delaney, professor of physics and astronomy at York University in Toronto, in the video above.

For now, the theories are speculative, but even that can be useful. Researchers across the globe believe studying more of these signals will help grow the scientific community's understanding of how matter is distributed across the universe.